Love Tonic
by caremeloreo
Summary: Nikki drank another one of Neil's tonics, and now she feels strange whenever she's around Max. And this time it doesn't seem like it's some sort of coincidence. Now it's up to him and Neil to break this spell and get Nikki back to normal. (Art is not mine.)
1. How It All Began

Camp Campbell seemed to not have shut down yet, surprisingly. There were even some new campers enrolled, along with new camps made. It was June 24th, 2011. Everyone was just doing their own thing. Nothing seemed out of the norm. Just another regular day at Camp Campbell. Or, at least, it _was_.

Nikki was having lady sickness. It immediately started to hurt when she woke up, so she decided to spend her morning exploring the forest to get her mind off the awful pain in her stomach. Maybe look for the Jersey Devil, which she was pretty sure she saw last night flying around. She had the same apparel as her previous years-yellow shirt, red overalls, mint and white converse-but her hair has been cut into shorter pigtails, and she wore a red baseball cap backward while her bun poked from underneath.

Morning turned into noon before she returned to the camp. Peeking her head out of a tree while upside down, Neil's science camp is seen from the corner of her eye, but not Neil. Why wasn't he there? _...Eh, he's probably in his tent being weird with his computer again._ She thinks to herself.

 _Well, if he's not there, it probably wouldn't hurt to snoop around in his stuff. Though it'd be funnier if he was._ She jumped out of the tree, rolling and landing flawlessly in some sort of pose. She walks towards the camp and saw a button on the wooden table. She grew a couple of inches over the years, so she was taller than before.

"Ooooh! What does **_this_ **button do?" She dragged her voice in a naive tone as she pressed the button with a giggle. Her voice has gotten a tiny bit deeper since last year, but she had the same shrill, bubbly squeak in her voice that she'll probably be cursed with forever. As she continued to snoop, she noticed some of the tonics Neil has made. They still had a tacky sea-green color-except for one, which most definitely stood out from the others and caught Nikki's attention immediately. It was a bright red substance held in a beaker.

She wanted to drink it.

For whatever reason, Neil's tonics looked appetizing to Nikki, and the red one looked the best. And since it was so unique, that was the one she drank.

Just from taking the first few sips, she already noticed its warm temperature, which was a change of pace considering the other tonics would usually be cold, and fancied all its sweet tastes; Blue cotton candy, cherry pie, Neapolitan ice cream, and chocolate of all kinds! The taste changed in that order the more she drank. What a weird tonic-yet so delicious at the same time! Gulping the liquid down, she burps up a light red cloud after, humming in delight.

"Hey, Nik. Snooping around in Neil's stuff again?"

Nikki looks where she heard the familiar voice as she puts the beaker down, smiling immediately. She also got a weird butterfly feeling inside her stomach when seeing him, but that's just how she usually feels around him. She's come to assume it's because she admires him as her best friend. Though, it seemed to give her a... _stronger_ feeling. _It's probably just my mood swings going off again._ She thought. _I did just drink the most awesome thing I've ever tasted._

"Hi, Max!" She waves at the hooded boy eagerly. "Yeah. I'm on my period again, so I'm doing stuff to ignore the agony. Gwen gave me a cotton stick to help with the bleeding earlier. At first, I thought it was cotton candy and tried to eat it, but she told me not to."

"...Yeah, okay." Max just shrugs, attempting not to laugh. He looked the same, but he and Nikki we're the same height now-at least they _look_ the same height if you count the hair, which is still big and poofy. "Anyway, I don't wanna deal with David's shitty activities today. Wanna steal something from the Quartermaster store?"

"Oooh, yeah!" Nikki exclaimed happily and jumped to Max from the other side of Neil's table. "I wanna see what kind of games he has. And maybe some stuff to cause some general mayhem. One time I found nails in there and used them to poke holes into the Camp Mobile's tires for no reason."

He smirked at that and walked over, putting his hand on Nikki's shoulder. "See, that's what I like about you, Nikki. You always think up some great idea to start shit." The boy starts walking away from the Science Camp, and Nikki follows with a hint of blush on her cheeks. _Is my face getting_ _warmer_ _?_

As the two walked towards the Quartermaster store, Nikki turned to Max, even though he wasn't looking at her, and began to notice certain things about him that she never noticed before.

 _...Has his hair always been that soft and curly looking?_ She thinks to herself. _It's kind of cute-wait, why did I think that?_

Despite her confusion, she felt an urge come over her as she reached her hand over to the boy's hair-which is returned with his hand quickly slapping hers away immediately when it is in contact with his hair.

Nikki gasped when her hand was hit, taking a small step back from the hooded boy and holding her hand. "-Max?"

He blinks for a minute and turns to her, almost confused before realizing what happened. He remains silent for a while as he stares at Nikki's dumbfounded look, before sighing and turning around, proceeding to walk. "...Keep going."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two as they walked. Nikki takes a glance at Max again. He had his hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie, and he was sort of staring at the ground. Yeah, that was a look that yelled, 'don't talk to me right now'.

 _What was that all about?_ Nikki thought to herself. _Was I being annoying? ...Wait, that's a stupid question, I_ _ **always** __do something annoying._ She wanted to ask Max about it, but it didn't seem like he wanted to talk at all. Still, Nikki wanted to get some sort of small talk. This whole experience would just end up awkward otherwise.

Once they got to the Quartermaster store, Max immediately began to look around. Nikki followed Max, still somewhat creeped out by the building. Maybe she could get him to rant about the Quartermaster, or maybe anything that won't make this whole thing go downhill.

"Man, this place is _still_ really creepy. It's amazing that the Quartermaster is still alive. Do you think he'll have any new stuff in here? Maybe some stuff from Spooky Island?" Nikki turns to Max with a kinda forced smile-though it's hard to tell if it's forced or not-as an attempt to engage him in conversation.

"...It's _not_ surprising, Nikki. Quartermaster is fucking immortal or some shit. And even if he did have some new weird shit, I fucking hope it's not from Spooky Island."

"Hah, can't argue with that." She shrugs, feeling satisfied with herself that she got Max to talk to her a little. "I still remember how you screamed like a girl cuz of how scared you got."

"Yeah, whatever." He scoffs. "That's a _different_ kind of scary, Nikki."

As they continue to search, Max found a switchblade and knife sharpener, which he managed to store away in the pocket of his hoodie. He already had a pocket knife, but he needed a sharpener so it doesn't go dull. And the switchblade looked cool, if not a little rusty.

"Did you find anything, Nikki?"

"I found some weird-looking balloons." Nikki takes a few of the balloons to show Max, who immediately had a horrified look when seeing them. They were a white color, though some red or yellow and in an individual small package. "...Where the fuck did you find those?"

"In an old drawer. I think my dad said something about these balloons to my mom-something about how he wished he used one."

"...Yeah, okay. You should... Probably not hold onto those."

"Eh, I'll still keep them in case I wanna use them."

"Oh my God, Nikki.." Max is facepalms, trying not to laugh while cringing. He walks away from Nikki to look for more things to steal.

There was that awkward silence again. Nikki felt uncomfortable again. She looked at Max, who was looking in chests and drawers for other things to take-it looks like he's picking up some sort of glass bottle filled to the brim with some sort of dark purple substance, and a skull on the labeling.

 _Maybe I could ask about earlier,_ She thinks to herself as she watches him stuff the bottle in his pocket. _Max seems okay now..._

"Hey, Max?" She approaches Max, already feeling anxious as she does so.

"Yeah, Nikki?" Max turns to her, completely face-to-face with the green-haired girl.

As this happens, Nikki could feel her heart beating like a drum when looking at Max, and felt butterflies in her stomach again. Her face began to heat up in a red hue, almost left speechless.

"-Nikki?" He waved his hand in front of Nikki's face. "Hello, Earth to Nikki?" He snapped his fingers in front of her, which worked and got her to respond.

"Huh, what?" She blinked, snapping out of... whatever she was in.

"You were gonna say something?"

"Oh! Um..." She began to feel anxious again, almost hesitating to ask, "...I-I kinda wanna know what happened earlier when you slapped my hand?" Her voice began to drag in a sort of high pitch at the end of her sentence.

Max stares at Nikki with a slight glare, squinting at her. "What I wanna know is why you were trying to touch me in the first place."

Nikki immediately felt large waves of anxiety come over her fast like a tsunami as her shoulders tensed, lightly hunkering her head down like a child who was scolded by her parent.

"W-Well, I, u-uh..." She takes a small step back. Why was it so hard to talk to him now?! It wasn't difficult for her to do it before. Whenever someone questioned her actions she would be able to answer them no problem! What was different here?

She gulped and took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. "...I wanted to touch your hair." Nikki wanted to cringe at that moment, expecting Max to get upset with her.

 _Oh, God, he's gonna get so upset and yell at me, he's gonna think I'm weirder than usual and stop being my friend-wait, why am I getting sudden anxiety about this?_

"-Why?" Instead of the expected glare of hatred, Max gave Nikki a look of confusion, a hint of suspicion in his tone. This left Nikki kinda confused too. Mostly because of how much she expected Max to yell and get mad at her.

"I...I-I dunno.." She blushed and rubbed her arm with her hand. "...I never noticed how fluffy and cute your hair was, I guess."

"... 'Fluffy and cute'?"

 _Oh no._ "W-Well, no, not cute-not that your hair _isn't_ cute or fluffy-!" She begins to back away from Max. "I-I just-Ummm-"

Now he was just confused. He's not even suspicious anymore, he's just confused. "You... rarely give me compliments like that."

"O-Oh, I don't?-" _Oh God, what are you doing!? Get it together, Nikki!_ "W-Well, I thought I should! C-Compliments are nice, don't you think? I should do it more often, you're really beautiful-" _What?_ "-I mean handsome-I MEAN-"

She put her hands on her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything else for a long moment. Her face was as beet red at this point, and her body was shaking. _Nikki, you had one job._

Max was almost left speechless, his cheeks flushed with red. What-What is going on with Nikki? Why was she so red, and showering him with compliments out of nowhere? He did like the sudden praise, but he never expected it from Nikki, nor any compliments like **that**. He didn't expect it from _anyone_.

"Are you-okay? You're acting really weird." He took a few steps towards her, and she backed away reflectively, her mind reeling with thoughts. _What's wrong with me? Why am I acting like this? Why do I feel like I'm burning and why is my heart beating so fast!? Am I **actually** dying now!?_

As she backs away, Nikki's foot tilts to the side, making her yelp sharply in pain and fall over.

"Oh fuck!" Max runs over to her as she stumbles down and holds onto her foot, hissing loudly. "Shit, hold on-" He tried to lift her, but she immediately freaks out when he does and she tries to stand up-though still in pain-and stumbles more trying to walk away.

As she does so, Nikki ends up bumping into a tall, old shelf. Not only did dust fly off of it but a knife from the very top tipped over the edge and fell right by Nikki, slicing open a wound in her forearm.

"OW!" She yelped, clutching her arm as blood already pokes out from the cut.

"Dammit-!" _This is just gonna turn into a cycle, won't it?_ Again, he runs for the girl.

Nikki felt overwhelmed with everything and immediately panicked as she backed away from the shelf and Max. Making a loud noise of distress, she began to run and look for bandages, and Max follows.

"NIKKI!" He finally caught up to her, grabbing her arm. "Nikki, calm down!"

She stops running, fatigue and ankle pain coming over her and finally bends down and sits on the floor, and Max does the same. Nikki looks over at him and her arm, still panicking. Not just from the cut, but also because Max has her arm in his grip. "M-Maaaax-my-my arm, it's-!"

"I know, your arm's cut. But it's not that bad." He lifts her arm, showing the cut to her. "See? Barely bleeding."

She starts to calm down, still focused on Max's hand as it holds her arm. "Should we get, like-something, or- _something_?"

He sighs. "If there are not any bandaids in here, we'll ask for some from David." He takes a minute to notice how red Nikki's face is. "Goddamn, are you sure you're okay? You look sick."

 _Am I?_ She thinks. "I mean.. I have lady sickness, but maybe I have death sickness too-"

Max scoots closer to Nikki and lets go of her hand to touch her cheek, immediately reacting to the warmth. "Holy shit, you're _literally_ burning up. We should get out of here and find out what the fuck's going on."

Yep, that was it for her. She thought her heart was going to explode at this point, and before she knew it she falls over and faints.

"What the f-" He quickly grabbed her to keep her from hitting the floor, holding her up. "Nikki, what the fuck!?"

No response is given.

 _Oh fuck._ He put his head to her chest to make sure she still had a pulse, and relaxed when she did.

"For fuck's sake, Nikki." He picked her up in a bridal manner and quickly but carefully ran out of the Quartermaster store.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Mess Hall, David was looking for the two campers who had seemed to disappear.

"Has anyone seen Max and Nikki?" David asks as the campers were eating breakfast. Which, of course, consisted of poorly made pancakes and bacon. Some campers didn't attend camp this year, such as Ered, Nurf, and Dolph, as they were past the age limit or just had other interests in mind. So the campers that remained were Neil, Harrison, Nerris, Preston, and Space Kid.

"Yeah, I haven't seen them all morning," Neil remarks. He hasn't seemed to change much-he wore the same maroon skinny jeans and yellow short-sleeve turtleneck. The skinny jeans weren't rolled-up anymore, as he grew tall enough for them to fit him in length. His hair was cut a little shorter, too. "has anyone at least seen them?"

"Maybe they have... vanished!" Harrison says, confetti shooting from his hands. He had the same attire as last year but was a bit taller now.

"Or they're on an epic quest!" Nerris adds, who had grown taller and wore a starry wizard hat to match her cape and boots. Her hair had slightly grown, but her bangs stood out from the rest of it, so it didn't look all that different.

"Or on a romantic date!" Preston claims in his dramatic voice. He didn't seem to change one bit in attire or appearance aside from growing in height. "Ah, I can just see the two stargazing together on the hill of Sleepy Peek! They would have so much to say.. while saying so little." Preston gasps dramatically as another thought pops up in his head. "I bet they're holding hands as we speak!"

"Ooh, ooh!" Space Kid cuts in literally out of nowhere as if he were part of the conversation from the start, eyes glistening with enthusiasm to match his huge smile. Not much has changed in his appearance, either. Just that he got taller and his hair grew a bit longer. "What if they went to **_space_ **together!?"

"Excuse me?" Neil turns to Preston with disbelief. "What the hell makes you think that?"

"Oh, Neil," Preston says, still speaking in a theatrical tone. "It must be hard for you of all people to understand, as you are introverted and with no interest in romance."

"What are you talking about, Preston? They've known each other for a year, at best." Neil picks up Preston's hand, lifting it off his shoulder.

"Ah, but you never know what can happen in a year. Time can really change one's perspective on another!"

"Please, I know Nikki and Max more than any of you. I know for a fact that they're not the type to do something like that. The most that could've happened is they're on some sort of obscure adventure. I'm sure they're gonna be back soon and perfectly fine."

Just at that moment, the door bursts open, and Max walks in with a passed out Nikki in his arms.

"I don't give a SHIT what anyone's doing. This is what we're dealing with now."


	2. I Need An Explanation

The room was completely silent. Everyone was looking at the situation with distraught and horrified looks. David and Gwen run over to Max with mortified looks. "What the gosh darn heck happened!?"

"What's it look like, David?" He raises his voice as he walks towards the nearest empty table to put Nikki on. "I'm not gonna deal with anyone else getting sick and fainting, so _someone_ needs to do something about this now."

Nerris gasped at the sight. "The gentle, lovely warrior princess has been injured in the battle! I shall cast a healing spell to give her maximum health!" She exclaimed while approaching the table.

"That won't be necessary, Nerris," Gwen quickly said while picking up Nikki in her arms. "I'll just take her to her tent and patch up her arm."

"I hope she'll be okay..." Neil said with concern as Gwen carries Nikki. _What happened? Where did they go? What were they_ ** _doing_** _?_

Neil began to grow suspicious, considering what Preston had said. Nikki and Max have gotten pretty close during the time they've been spending at camp. Maybe something _was_ going on. But then again... It just didn't seem possible to him.

 _I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do that. Neither of them likes anyone here that way, let alone each other_. He convinced himself. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. _Still..._

He looked in the direction of Max and David, who were standing by the doors of the mess hall. _...This whole situation looks pretty incriminating._

"So what happened, Max?" David asked, bending down to Max's height.

"We went to the Quartermaster store, Nikki started acting weird and cut her arm, and then fainted for literally no fucking reason." Max rambled, in a seemingly calm tone. He was still worried about her, but he wanted to stay calm. And maybe try not to think about the fact that it's his fault this happened in the first place.

"Well, while you still need to watch your language, you shouldn't have been in the Quartermaster store in the first place! It isn't nice to invade his privacy, and you could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"Nikki's fucking unconscious, David," Max repeated, slightly louder and more irritated this time. "That sounds pretty 'seriously hurt' to me."

"Exactly!" David said. "That's why you shouldn't go into anyone's private area unless they give you consent."

Max pinches the brim of his nose and sighs. "Goddamn it, David, you phrase things so horribly."

"What do you mean?" David tilts his head in confusion.

 _God, he's so fucking stupid._ "Ugh, nothing, just forget it." Max walks away. As he does so, he approaches Neil and sits by him.

"So," Neil started to say. "What happened?"

He sighed in annoyance. "Did you not hear me? I just explained it."

"I know that!" Neil said. "It just sounds a little suspicious is all. She bumped into a shelf and a knife fell near her, cutting her arm? That's VERY specific."

"Yeah, just like it sounds specific for Nikki to go unconscious out of nowhere." Max retorts coldly. "What makes you think this was my fault?"

"Well, you were with her before this happened."

Eyebrows narrow as Max gets more frustrated. "It's not like I _pushed_ her towards the shelf!"

Neil takes a minute to think about this. _Okay, this probably isn't what I think it is._ Neil thought. _I'm getting this from what_ ** _Preston_** _told me._ _Besides, my prediction was right. ...But why was Nikki blushing?_

Neil was silent for a while, before he asked, "You didn't act weird around her, right?"

"What does that have to do with-" Max sighs and rubs his temples. "-No, I didn't. If anything, Nikki was acting weirder than usual. Though, it was probably from her mood swings."

"How? What was she doing?" _Wait... 'Mood swings'?_ Okay, now Neil was confused. What could Nikki possibly do that's outside of the norm? She's already crazy as it is, anything wouldn't be surprising for her.

"She tried to touch my hair. I know that's not outside of the weirdness of Nikki, but then she started giving me weird compliments? That's kinda what lead to this whole disaster."

"Weird compliments..?" Neil put a hand to his chin, squinting his eyes. "Like what?"

"She told me I was pretty." "... _Pretty_?" Okay, this was more confusing than before. "Since when does _Nikki_ give compliments like that?"

"She doesn't. And it's weird to use that word to describe a _guy_."

The door to the mess hall opened, and Gwen stepped in with a bit of a shocked look on her face. Kinda like she saw something unexpected and horrible.

"Is Nikki going to be okay?" Harrison asks as he walks up to her. Gwen looks at the magic kid and snaps out of her mortified expression. "Well, aside from the cut on her arm, she's just passed out with a sprained ankle. She'll be fine with a few hours of rest and treatment."

* * *

As everyone was in their camps, Max was just walking around. And oddly enough, he couldn't stop thinking about Nikki.

"She's gonna be fine.." He says to himself, but then he stops. "..It's not like I _killed_ her. I **didn't**." ..But why was she acting so weird? He knew it was from mood swings, but... This felt different. She didn't act that way last time. Then again, she's growing into maturity like everyone else. _She's just in a stage of life where she gets weird feelings about people. They'll go away before I know it._

As he was thinking, he heard abrupt yelling from the Science Camp.

"WHERE DID IT GO!?" He screamed in a panic. "I could've sworn I left it right here!"

"Hey, Neil, have you got that flamethrower finished yet?" Max approached Neil. That'll probably get his mind off of Nikki.

"Now is NOT the time for that, Max!" "Jeez, what's got _you_ so worked up? At least, aside from literally **everything** that happens at this camp?"

"One of my tonics is missing! I was planning on testing it out today!"

"Which one? They all look the same to me." Max shrugs.

"There was a red tonic right here!" Neil points to an empty gap where the tonic once was in frustration. "Are you sure you didn't see it?"

"Yep. But I did see Nikki here earlier."

" _What!?_ "

"Yeah, she was messing with your stuff while you weren't there."

Neil groans. "How man times have I told her NOT to go into my-" paused. "Wait a minute... Was her face red the whole time she was with you?" "..Yeah?"

"..Oh my fucking God, it all makes sense!" His hands go to the sides of his head as he pieced this all together. "Do you have ANY idea what this means!?"

"Let me guess," Max says in a sarcastic tone. "'Oh no, Nikki's gonna die again from your stupid potion shit!' Please, she just has mood swings. She's literally on her period right now."

"No, not that! It's worse!" Neil grabbed Max and pulled him up. "That _TONIC_ enhances the emotions and feelings of the drinker - NIKKI! And with her _already_ having mood swings, _her hormones have **doubled**_."

"Okay," He pushes Neil away from him again. "What's that got to do with _me_?"

"I-I don't KNOW, she-she must have some strong feeling for y-" He pauses again. "...-Red cheeks, funny complements, _her wanting to touch your hair?_ Max, I think... -I THINK she has a soft spot for you."

"So, what your saying is because Nikki drank your dumb potion, she 'fell in love' with me."

"Well-YES! That's EXACTLY what I'm saying. And, again, it's a **tonic** , not a **potion**. There's a _very_ big difference."

"That's a load of bullshit." Max rolls his eyes. "It didn't work last time, I doubt it worked this time. If Nikki had a thing for me, I would know."

Neil was about to respond but stops himself before he starts. He rests a hand on his chin, really thinking about that. "You're right about that. My past tests didn't ever turn out right... But that doesn't explain those weird compliments you said she gave you."

"She's got mood swings. It's just a phase."

"How do you know that, Max?" Neil asks. "And how does that not lean towards Nikki having weird feelings for you?"

Max looks away, ignoring the heat he felt on his cheeks. "She's on her period, it's gonna fade away."

"And if it doesn't?"

"It _will_. She'll get over it eventually and then start liking someone else out of the blue." He narrows his eyes at Neil. "Why would _you_ make a stupid love potion in the first place, if not to get a date because you're too scared to get one on your own?"

Immediately, Neil flinched and blushed. "That's none of your business!" He crosses his arms defensively. "Besides, we need to focus more on how to reverse it! ...Scratch that, we should study this experiment! I've never had this tonic work until now, we need to take notes on her behavior."

"'We'? Don't put this shit on me, Neil, _you_ made it in the first place. And I'm not your goddamn lab rat!"

"Well, technically a _guinea pig_ would be the better description-" He shakes his head and waves his hands to focus on the task at hand. "-But fine. Just at least distract her long enough for me to make an antidote before the effects are permanent." He pointed a finger at Max. "And don't tell Nikki! If she finds out, she'll freak out and tell David and Gwen. I CAN'T survive jail, Max-!"

"Goddamn it, Neil, calm the fuck down! The most they'd do is freak out over nothing, too. Nikki's attention span is pretty much nonexistent, so I wouldn't even need to do anything." He walks away, and Neil looks back at his tonics.

He begins to laugh very nervously. "Hopefully I'll be able to get something made before the end of the week."

As they finished their conversation, Neil hears clapping and a dramatic voice. "Incredible work! The feelings are so REAL! Loving the passion! _Amazing_ use in subtext on Max's part and the cliffhanger is executed so impressively-"

Neil ends up grabbing Preston's neck and strangling him in anger again.


	3. Distractions

Nikki's vision was blurry as she slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes, an awful ringing invading her eardrums. Her head and ankle hurt. Though it was more of a stinging feeling than how it was before she passed out.

She saw a blurry, brown and green figure loom over her body. "Nikki?" The figure asked in a concerned tone. "You okay?"

She groaned remembering the pain, recognizing the figure's voice. "Mh... Hi, Gwen.. my ankle hurts."

"What about your arm? Does it still hurt?" She shook her head. "Nnnoo... not as much as I remember.."

"Oh, thank God," Gwen says, more to herself than to Nikki. "Can you stand up?"

"I think so." She observed her surroundings once her vision cleared up, seeing she was in her tent. "How long was I out for?"

"About two and a half hours. Do you remember anything that happened?"

"Well..." Nikki thought about it, before responding, "I remember that I fell... and bumped into a shelf while I was... with Max, somewhere?"

"Well, that.. sounds right, from what I heard from Max."

"Yeah, Max wouldn't lie about that.." At the mention of his name, she began to think of him.

She blushed a red hue thinking about how fluffy his hair felt and his cute face.. wait, what? Why was she thinking that? Not that his face wasn't cute, but- _Wait... how come I never noticed how cute he looked until now?_

Gwen noticed Nikki's face and her eyes started to sparkle. "You spend a lot of time with him, huh?" She asks with a huge grin on her face.

"Yeah, he's my best friend." She began to sit up slowly. "Speaking of Max, where is he?"

"Oh, he's outside with the rest of the campers. You wanna see him, right? Just be careful not to get your bandage wet. Do you need me to help you get up?"

"Probably. But I think I'm gonna be fine walking."

Meanwhile, David set up a swimming activity, as it was for one of the camper's swimming camp. Max and Neil were putting on swimming outfits for the activity in the bathroom.

Neil wore lime-green trunks, a bright yellow shirt, flip-flops, and had sunscreen on his nose.

Max, on the other hand, just had red trunks with a grey tie and a strand of white on the sides.

As they walked out, Max snickered at what Neil was wearing. "You wear a shirt when you go swimming?"

"I don't want to get sunburned! And speak for yourself, you're barely wearing anything!"

"Uh, yeah, that's the point. You don't go swimming fully-clothed."

As they and the rest of the campers went to the pier in their swimming attire, Nikki walked out with a bat and slab of wood tied together for a crutch while Gwen followed behind. She couldn't participate in the activity, so she was just gonna sit criss-cross on the ground and watch.

"Oh, Nikki's back." Max looked in her direction and Neil immediately grabbed his arm. "Hey, HOLD ON! You can't walk up to Nikki like that!" He points to Max's body up and down. "You're not wearing clothes!"

"Uh, yeah? I just said you're not supposed to."

Neil facepalms himself. "Did you forget about the tonic that Nikki drank? If you walk up to her you'll just make the effects stronger! And then it's gonna be harder for me to make an antidote strong enough to work!"

"Jesus, Neil, calm down. This isn't the first time Nikki's done shit like this, so I'm pretty sure it didn't work anyway." Max jerked his arm away from Neil. "Besides, you wanted me to distract her, right?"

He groaned and crossed his arms, watching him walk towards Nikki.

The green-haired girl sees Max in the corner of her eye and looks at him right away with glee. She happily waves with a huge smile on her face. "Hi, Max-!"

She cuts herself off when she turns to him, and her face turns completely red. Nikki must've forgotten they were having a swimming activity because she was shocked to see him only wear swimming trunks.

"Hey, Nikki." Max waves as he walks towards her. There was a tiny hint of concern concealed in his usual tone. "You okay? Everyone thought you were gonna die again."

Nikki was speechless. Her mind almost blocked out what Max was saying, hearing her heart loudly beat in her chest as her eyes glistened while looking at him.

 _...Why is she just looking at me?_ Max thought to himself. _I don't like how she's looking at me._

He stared for a moment before snapping his fingers in front of her. " _Nikki_."

"-Huh, what?" Nikki blinked at him, snapping back into reality.

Okay, now Max was getting concerned. This is _exactly_ what happened in the QM store.

"...Are you okay?" His anxious tone was a bit more noticeable than he'd like as he repeated his question.

"-Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. My ankle and stomach still hurt, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good."

"...Oh." He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his trunks, going back to his usual grumpy expression. "What about your arm?"

"My arm..?" Nikki looks down at her forearm, which was wrapped in just too many bandages needed for a small cut. "Oh, right, my arm! It doesn't hurt anymore, so I kinda forgot it was cut."

"...You _forgot_ you cut your arm?"

Nikki laughs. "Yeah, I guess. I probably had my mind on other things."

"Like _what_?" Max asked, slightly suspicious.

Their conversation was interrupted by a cheery voice from outside the mess hall doors.

"Alrighty, campers!" David says as he walks past them and towards the other campers. "Let's get to the pier to start the first activity!"

Nikki and Max look at David before looking back at each other as the rest of the campers groan.

"Guess I gotta go now. See ya later, Nik." Max waves goodbye as he walks away.

"Byyyeeee..." Nikki says softly as she waves. She sighed as her eyes slowly lower halfway with a big, dopey smile on her red face.

Her eyes were fixated on Max as her head rested in her hands, her body slightly hunched as she hummed happily.

Max turns his head in her direction, watching as she waved at him, her face lighting up the moment he looked at her. He stared for a while before sighing, looking back to the pier and walking forward.

* * *

The day went on with the other activities, and Max began to grow suspicious. Not only would Nikki would either just stare at him with a dazed face, or compliment him on everything he did during each activity. It was weird, even for **_her_**.

The next activity was for art camp; draw and create a sculpture of anything, as long as effort and creativity were made in it.

David walked around to see what everyone had made, which consisted of things based on their camp or interests.

Max wasn't making much of anything; he was just poking holes into the clay with a paintbrush.

"What are you making Max?" David asked, walking towards the boy.

Max looks at the pile of clay that he didn't even attempt to form into any sort of shape. "...I'm gonna say it's a pumice stone."

Max looked over at Nikki to see what she made. Her sculpture was a tree trunk that had a heart carved into it, with "M + N" written inside the heart. Though, she was more focused on the drawing on her paper, which she was sketching hearts all over absentmindedly.

 _'M and N?'_ Max thought while looking at Nikki's creation.

"...That looks like the dumb thing people do when they have a crush." He casually points out. _...And that's not something Nikki would normally make._ He thought.

Nikki looks at her sculpture and paper, immediately feeling like she was gonna explode. _Don't panic, Nikki!_ She told herself as she tried to look less scared. _Just play it cool._

"Really? It was just supposed to be a tree." She chuckles nervously, but her panic is quickly gone when she hears another voice from next to her.

"I like your sculpture, Nikki!" Harrison says. He made a white tiger jumping through a hoop-which looked very impressively detailed. "It looks very cool!"

"Oh, thank you, Harrison!" Nikki says with a smile. "Yours looks cool too!"

Max scoffs at the clay structure, rolling his eyes. "It's not _that_ cool, it's just a tiger..." He mumbled.

...Wait, why was he upset about that? It _was_ just a sculpture. He shook his head and continued to poke his clay. _So what if she likes it? That's nothing to get upset about._

The more he let his mind wander, the more he thought about how weird Nikki was acting recently. The fact that her head was conveniently stuck in space whenever he was around was already suspicious.

 _..Did Neil's tonic work?_ Actually, the more he thought about it... The more it made sense. There doesn't seem to be any other reason for Nikki acting like this. _I would think she's just trying to mess with Neil, but she'd be pretending to die if she was._

His thoughts were interrupted by someone grabbing his arm and dragging him to the other end of the table.

"What the fu-Oh, it's you."

Neil sat across from Max with a clay beaker and an overly detailed equation for his "drawing".

"Have the distractions been working?" Neil asked anxiously.

"Yup." He points to Nikki and Harrison. "Again, I don't need to do anything."

"...Well, that's good," Neil says as he presents the paper. "That'll give us time to brainstorm. If I'm reading things right, the best way to get the antidote in Nikki's body is to sneak-inject it with a needle. That way, she won't be suspicious of anything, thus not figuring out what's going on."

Max was only partially listening as he looked at Nikki talking to Harrison, almost narrowing his eyes.

"Why are they talking so much..?" He mumbled. "What are they even talking about?"

 _...Why am I even upset about it?_ He thinks to himself. Nikki talks to Harrison all the time. She talks about him, too. _Is there something wrong with me? Why am I getting upset about Nikki doing what she normally does!? This is fucking stupid!_

"What do you think, Max?"

Max looked back at Neil with a slightly confused face. "Huh?"

"I'm thinking we wait until she's asleep to do it. Does that sound like a good plan?"

Small groan. "You keep saying 'we' as if I'm a part of this."

"Max, this is serious!" Neil says defensively. "We need to get this properly fixed!"

"Whatever." He rolls his eyes. "How long's it gonna take for you to make the thing anyway?"

Neil thought about it, putting his hand to his chin. "Hmmm.. I'm not sure. The quickest I can make an accurate reversal tonic would at least take a week, at best."

"A _week_?!" Max says, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. _How the fuck does he expect me to deal with this for that long!?_

"Oh, come on, it took me _longer_ to make the mood tonic in the first place!" Neil says in defense. "And these things can't be rushed!"

He growled and grumbled in response, rubbing his temples and he sat back down. "Again, why the fuck did you make it in the first place?"

"That's none of your business." Neil crosses his arms. "Why are you even mad?"

"I don't know," Max says sarcastically. "Maybe because I don't want to deal with Nikki acting weird around me for that long?"

Neil smugly smiles. "But you said yourself that my tonic didn't work."

Right when he was going to respond, Max goes silent. He growled, shoving his hands in his hoodie.

"-Okay, fine, _maybe_ it did. But I'm only saying that because I can't think of any other reason for Nikki being weirder than usual."

"See? I told you-"

"Yeah, yeah, you were right, I was wrong, whatever the fuck you want me to admit. Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible. I'd rather not have to keep Nikki from passing out every time we do anything. And I don't like her like **_this_**."

He gestures to Nikki. She looks his way and waves happily, her cheeks red with blush and eyes glistening.

Neil smiles. "Don't worry. Now that we know it works, I think I'll be able to brew up an antidote in no time!"

Max pointed a finger at him. " _You better_."

* * *

As the day ended, Nikki ran to Max with a smile.

"Hi, Max!" She waved.

"Hey, Nikki." He says, tired from the day. "How was your talk with Harrison?"

"It was okay. We talked about our sculptures for a while and then he showed me some cool magic tricks." She said with a shrug. "I liked your sculpture, by the way!"

"Oh, uh... Thanks, I guess, though it wasn't supposed to be anything."

"I still thought it was cool." She says. "Oh! Do you wanna look for the Jersey Devil tonight? I'm almost certain that I saw him yesterday!"

"Eh, I dunno. Stuff like that's not really up my ally, know?" He replied. "Plus I'm tired as hell from today."

"Hah, yeah, you're right." She says with a smile. "I'll still tell you if I find him in the morning if you want."

He yawns. "Yeah, alright-"

Without warning, Nikki steps towards Max and wraps her arms around him in a hug.

His eyes widen and his cheeks turn bright red. His mind went completely blank at that moment. But it was a brief moment before he registered what was going on. His arms coiled around the girl, ultimately returning the hug. This hug lasted for a moment before Nikki let go. She looked at him with a big smile.

"..Hehe.." She giggles bashfully, looking to the side and scratching her head as she takes a small step back, feeling her cheeks heat up in a red hue. "..So, uh... You probably wanna go to bed now, sooooo... Goodnight, Max!" With that said, she waved and ran into the forest.

Watching her run in the distance, he felt this... Weird sensation in his chest. His heart was beating loud, it felt like it was gonna jump right out of his body.

What.. _is_ that? He slowly raised a hand and clutching his chest, listening to his pulse. Why was he feeling so weird all of a sudden? And why over a _hug_?

Did he... like it? ...What kind of question is that-of _course_ , he did.

He usually wouldn't like hugs-they're almost foreign to him, and irritates him most of the time-but this was a hug from Nikki, so it made him happy. But what was the _other_ feeling he got from it? He couldn't figure out what it was, and it was frustrating.

He groaned and pulled his hair, walking past everyone else's tents and going into his own.

He lifted the flaps of his tent, watching as Neil was writing on his chalkboard and sighed. _He's gonna be doing that for a while._ He went to his cot and threw the blanket over himself, grabbing Mr. Honeynuts from under the cot and holding it in his arms.

 _This is going to be a_ ** _long_** _week._


End file.
